Spotlight Holly

I was really thrilled to find this stamp, and this is my first time using it. I'm very happy with the vintage look, yet it's still cheerful and festive for Christmas!

Card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

I started by stamping the collage image (Tin Can Mail for Inkadinkado) twice on off-white cs, using Staz-On ink in Timber Brown. To figure out what section to use as my "spotlight" I sketched a pencil box around an interesting section on one of the stamped images, then trimmed this area to size with my paper trimmer to get straight, even sides.

I used a blender pen and Distress inks (Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany, Frayed Burlap and Scattered Straw) to color in this panel, and then layered it to a red panel and set it aside.

For the base image, I grabbed the other image I had stamped and I roughed the edges up with the Tim Holtz distressing tool (a scissor would work fine also, just be careful - nothing worse than an ill-placed bloodspot on a great card LOL ;o), then I sponged some of the Distress Scattered Straw around the edges.

I adhered the spotlight piece to the base image, being careful to line it up well. Then I stamped Joy to All (Hero Arts) on a scrap of off-white cs, sponged the edges with the Timber Brown, and then to darken further, I ran the pad around the edges. I pop-dotted this on the card as shown.

For the cardfront, I used the same technique as in the CD case shadow box post (see sidebar).

Thanks for looking!